CBS All Access – Review 2018

In a recent trend among streaming video services, networks like HBO, Showtime, and Starz are sequestering content to create a foothold for their own dedicated streaming services. This is in addition to—and sometimes instead of—putting shows on content aggregators like Hulu and Netflix. Some of these single-channel services even create streaming-only content that doesn’t air on their legacy broadcast channels. CBS All Access, the network’s monthly subscription service, is one example. In addition to hosting a vast backlog of CBS shows, it’s the only way to watch original series such as Star Trek: Discovery and The Good Fight in the US. The service also includes live NFL games and local news coverage. Still, if you want to watch current or classic CBS shows on demand, CBS All Access might be worth the monthly cost.

The Best of CBS

With a subscription to CBS All Access, you can watch a wide variety of past and current shows from the extensive CBS catalog, as well as some live content from CBS news channels. Most TV watchers should find at least something worth watching. In addition to the previously mentioned All-Access only titles Star Trek: Discovery and The Good Fight are such dramas as NCIS (in all its versions), Blue Bloods, and Elementary. If you enjoy the news, you can catch 60 Minutes, CBS Evening News, and Face the Nation. Comedy offerings include The Big Bang Theory, Kevin Can Wait, Man with a Plan, and Young Sheldon. You can even watch classic shows such as Frasier, the original Hawaii 5-0, The Twilight Zone, and all the old Star Trek series. Of course, you will also be able to watch all of CBS’s upcoming shows, including reboots of Magnum P.I. and Murphy Brown, and new shows such as FBI and The Neighborhood. Note that many (but not all) current shows offer both the back catalog and recent episodes shortly after they air.

Based on my experience, the Movies section will only ever have around 10-15 movies at any given time. In other words, if you enjoy watching films, this is not the service for you. Amazon Prime Video and HBO Now are both better options for movies.

Additionally, you can watch any live NFL games that air on CBS. If you primarily want to watch sports, you should also check out fuboTV. This excellent service has 80+ channels worth of sports and entertainment content—including CBS Sports—as well as excellent DVR functionality.

Pricing and Platforms

The base CBS All Access plan costs $5.99 per month, but to get rid of commercials you need to pay for the $9.99-per-month, commercial-free version. However, this option doesn’t exempt you from advertisements while watching live TV or the so-called “promotional messaging” that accompanies select programming. This more expensive tier also grants you access to CBS Access’ new offline download feature (which I discuss later).

If CBS All Access is the only streaming service that carries a show you want to watch, this price is reasonable, especially if you plan to watch several previous seasons’ worth of a show. For reference, the sixth season of Elementary costs $34.99 on both iTunes and Amazon Video. Even if it takes you a few months to watch the entire series, CBS All Access is still a better deai.

But what if you’re only subscribing to the network for Star Trek: Discovery, which is released on a staggerred schedule? Let’s crunch a few numbers. The first half of the first season aired in September and ended in November, while the second half aired in January and ended in February. Therefore, you needed to keep the subscription for a minimum of five months, assuming you canceled during the break. Five months of CBS All Access costs either $29.95 or $49.95 depending on whether you opt for the ad-free version. In other words, CBS All Access’ prolonged release schedule may not represent a great deal for consumers who only want to watch these original shows. Then again, you don’t have any other options; I doubt CBS will change this release schedule for upcoming seasons. Both Netflix and Amazon Prime Video release entire seasons of original shows all at once.

You can reduce the price pain of CBS All Access a bit by paying on an annual basis, at a discounted rate. The limited-commercial plan costs $59.99 per year, while the commercial-free version runs you $99.99. Keep in mind that to switch from an annual plan to a monthly one, you first have to cancel your current subscription. Up to two people can simultaneously stream content from the same account. The service is available to US and Candian residents.

There’s also an option to pay for a Showtime add-on, which includes all of the television and movie content from its own streaming service. However, this is the only add-on option available at this time and it can only be used with monthly subscription plans. For the limited commercial plan, CBS All Access and the Showtime Add-On costs $14.99 per month. The commercial free-version goes for a hefty $18.99 per month.

CBS All Access works primarily in a web browser on desktops, though you can get the standalone CBS app on Windows 10. It offers apps for both Android and iOS, in addition to Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV devices. Rounding out the list is support for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles. I tested out the experience using a complimentary press account on a Windows 10 PC and a Google Pixel running Android 9.0.

Functional Design

The CBS All Access interface feels crowded. Across the top, there’s a navigation menu clad in the bright-blue CBS color, with the Shows, Full episodes, Live TV, Schedules, Movies, and More (which has links to the CBS Shop, CBS News, and CBS Sports) options. Additionally, there’s a search bar and an icon for accessing profile settings to the right side.

From the profile section, you can edit all of your contact information, link Facebook or Twitter accounts, or opt in to email notifications. You can’t add an additional profile, as you can with Hulu or Netflix. Furthermore, the help portal, which is essentially just a collection of FAQs about the service, isn’t very intuitive. I dislike how the information just doesn’t show up on a single page.

If you mouse over the Shows icon, you see an overwhelming list of all the CBS Shows available on the platform alongside a search bar. You can click on any of the content headers, including Originals, Drama, Reality, Classics, and Specials to see all the shows in that category. Shows are arranged alphabetically, but you can’t sort the list in any way.

Under the Live TV section, I had three options in my testing, CBS (Local Station), CBS (24/7 News), and CBS SportsHQ. Your location and local cable market may affect which channel options you see. These local channels are available in around 200 different markets, so if you live in a reasonably metropolitan area, you should have access. The Schedule section unsurprisingly shows the primetime television scheduled to air over the next two weeks. Whenever you hover over a listing, an annoying pop-up window appears and blocks the rest of the schedule. Since this pop-up doesn’t add too much information anyway, CBS should just integrate it into the program listing itself.

Simple and (Mostly) Reliable

I didn’t encounter any performance issues when watching already-aired shows or the live content from the web interface. Over the course of my review period, I watched a live NFL game, local news broadcasts, and an old episode of The Twilight Zone without any complications. Video streams ramped up to the highest resolution quickly and didn’t lag out at any point. That said, during my testing period several of my coworkers had significant issues when they tried to stream one of the latest episodes of Star Trek: Discovery—issues that were widely reported by Trek fans across the country. Since CBS All-Access is the only way to watch the show live in the US, that’s a problem.

A bigger problem is that it doesn’t measure up to the technical prowess of other veterans in the streaming service industry. For example, the maximum streaming resolution is limited to 1080p. Both Netflix and Amazon Prime video offer 4K content (some of which even supports HDR).

CBS Access on Mobile

The CBS Mobile app launches quickly, but, oddly, it doesn’t prompt you to log in when it starts up. You can sign in or sign up for a new account by swiping from the left to open the hidden menu. Much like the top navigation bar from the web interface, this menu includes options for Shows, Live TV, Movies, Schedule, Shop, and Settings. I understand why CBS bundles the Shop (from which you can buy Apparel, DVDs, and other show-related gifts) into the app, but it still seems out of place for what is primarily a video streaming app.

The mobile experience looks sleek, with bright blue accents and a black background, but the ads on the bottom significantly detract from the overall design. In the top right, there’s a Chromecast button and a search bar for finding content. When you tap on most of the options listed in the settings, the app jarringly adopts a bright white background, which looks inconsistent with the rest of the app.

The app stutters occasionally when switching between sections or opening videos streams, but the actual streaming experience is solid. I tested the app while connected to PCMag’s fast 60Mbps (download) corporate Wi-Fi network and did not come across any performance issues when watching content. I streamed a previously aired episode of 60 Minutes without any issues.

The latest feature to hit CBS All Access’ Android and iOS apps is offline downloads. CBS All Access is the latest video streaming service to get this feature, joining Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. CBS’s implementation works very similarly to both of those; just hit the Download icon next to any episode. Not all shows support offline downloads at the time of publishing, though most of the networks’ original shows are eligible. Check out the list of current CBS titles available for offline viewing. For reference, I downloaded a 45-minute episode in a little under three minutes over the same Wi-Fi network.

Head over to the app settings to make changes to your download preferences. For example, you can toggle the Auto-Delete Upon Completion option, restrict downloads to when you are connected to a Wi-Fi network, and choose between high- and standard-definition downloads. The section also includes a helpful graph of the storage distribution on the device, including how much is taken up by CBS content and how much space remains. You can download up to 25 videos at any one time and keep the same video on up to five devices. CBS All Access will delete videos 30 days after you download them or 48 hours from after you start playback.

Access Adds Up

As with all video streaming services, the value of CBS All Access depends on how much you use it and how much it saves you from spending elsewhere. Given its relatively narrow restriction to CBS content, it’s a tougher sell than services with broader offerings. Still, CBS All Access hosts a huge catalog of on-demand content, is available across multiple platforms, and even throws live NFL games and news programming into the mix. If you want to watch a few current CBS shows, binge on its vast content archives, or enjoy the occasional NFL game, then subscribing makes financial sense. If you want to watch CBS originals such as Star Trek: Discovery or The Good Fight, you don’t have a choice, even if the staggered release cycle isn’t economical for cord-cutters.

Bottom Line: CBS All Access is mandatory for those who want to watch CBS originals, but its large catalog of past and current shows may not be enough to attract anyone else.

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